By Vernon Khelawan

Two recent events have made me realise the process of the new evangelisation is alive and well in the Archdiocese of Port of Spain. While both were different in many ways, they were set to achieve the same result – spreading the Good News – the major objective of evangelisation. The first event can be described as a “Mission on the High Seas”. Significantly too, was that one was used to start off the Lenten season while the other literally put a cap on the period.

The first was developed when members of three parishes – Gran Couva/Tabaquite, Tortuga and Carapichaima – took a decision to take their Lenten mission out to sea. Participants piled into the charter boat, went out to sea and listened to their leaders deliver powerful sermons while at sea. It was a setting that has similarities to that of Jesus on a boat on the Sea of Galilee, when he preached to a large crowd on the land.

Using the theme “Look, I am standing at the door knocking” (Rev 3:20) the three parish priests – Frs Roger Paponette, Steve Ransome and Steve Duncan – delivered moving homilies striking deep into the heart of our faith. At the end of the three-hour marine crusade, which comprised a mixture of praise, worship and talent, participants lauded the innovative exercise, admitting it was truly a great experience.
The second event which ended on Friday last at the Exodus Pan Theatre in St Augustine, was heralded as an “Open Air Outreach Crusade” which lasted all of five nights (Apr 11-15) and it did raise a few eyebrows, since our Church is not normally associated with prayer crusades.
Organised by the Our Lady of Fatima, Curepe parish, it was described as a crusade for those “searching for a more meaningful relationship with Jesus Christ or in need of a deeper understanding of the Christian faith. One of our aims is to communicate Gospel values to the wider society so that our nation may continue to be transformed by the saving power of our Lord Jesus Christ.”
While the crusade is not the first of its kind in the country (Bourg Mulatresse conducted a successful one in the Croisee last year), it could signal the beginning of another powerful medium in which the faithful could push the evangelisation movement forward.